Rip doesn't want to go to the bench

Michael Curry has been hinting for a couple of weeks that a tough decision was going to have to be made because the Pistons' best chance to beat Boston and Cleveland is with a big lineup. It's pretty obvious that small-ball wasn't going to cut it. Curry's been throwing out names like Manu Ginobili and Lamar Odom, big-time players who are coming off the bench for elite teams.

But I don't think Rip is hearing any of it. Our exchange went something like this:

So, what's going to happen when you come back, do you think you will jump right back into the starting lineup?

Rip: "Yeah, that's the only option."

Well, there is another option -- coming off the bench.

Rip: "That ain't happening."

This could require an intervention from Joe Dumars.

Curry could sidestep the issue by going back to the small starting lineup, but sub a big man in quickly. That way, Rip and Allen Iverson remain in the starting lineup, and Curry can still keep his big lineup on the court 30-plus minutes. The worry with that is whether the Pistons will go back to getting off to bad starts, which they were doing earlier with the small lineup.

What happened to the good old "I'll do whatever is asked of me. I want to win"?

This will be interesting.

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Obviously Rip believes he is above coming off the bench. If he wants to be selfish and disrupt what has become a winning team (ugly but still winning) with him sidelined, then we need to trade him for someone who will contribute off the bench.

Rip is holding on to the last piece of rope he has. He is maybe not the smartest person, but he is not stupid either. It must have been -in a somewhat weird way- painful for him, that this team didn't struggle as much without him, as some whould have thought. He still wants to preserve his "elite status" in this League, and in his mindset that is not going to happen coming of the bench

There is a Delima, if Rip goes to the bench, is this because AI is better than him? or is it because the team needs him to come off the bench? AI may not sign next year, so will rip be a starter again? or will he still be coming of the bench? sure he will be starter again. This is what hurts him. He is considered the inferior to AI.

If AI is guaranteed for next year, then Rip is ok to start off the bench. I think.

There is a Delima, if Rip goes to the bench, is this because AI is better than him? or is it because the team needs him to come off the bench? AI may not sign next year, so will rip be a starter again? or will he still be coming of the bench? sure he will be starter again. This is what hurts him. He is considered the inferior to AI.

If AI is guaranteed for next year, then Rip is ok to start off the bench. I think.

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I think that's fair enough Hamilton is good enough to be starting for almost every team so he knows he could be, therefore bringing him off the bench will be difficult because he knows his good enough and yes it will probably prompt a bit of anger to Hamilton. I suggested this in another post it sounds so stupid but I think it will work...both of them on the bench.

The defense in the starting line-up is very strong, although still Stuckey, Prince and Sheed can maintain scoring and if not Afflalo and Amir have shown spurts of good scoring. Then on the Defense we still have the energy of Maxiell and McDyess - Good rebounding then the offensive brilliance of A.I. and Hamilton. Make sense or am I living in fairy land?

I am unti Herrman but i am big ball pro. So you can expect that i only have one thing i disagree here. On the other hand, if the first name in each position is the starter, are you suggesting both Rip and AI coming off the bench? that would be a killer second unit in scoring, but a bad ball handling unit as it was proven that neither AI nor rip are good on position 1.

I think that's fair enough Hamilton is good enough to be starting for almost every team so he knows he could be, therefore bringing him off the bench will be difficult because he knows his good enough and yes it will probably prompt a bit of anger to Hamilton. I suggested this in another post it sounds so stupid but I think it will work...both of them on the bench.

The defense in the starting line-up is very strong, although still Stuckey, Prince and Sheed can maintain scoring and if not Afflalo and Amir have shown spurts of good scoring. Then on the Defense we still have the energy of Maxiell and McDyess - Good rebounding then the offensive brilliance of A.I. and Hamilton. Make sense or am I living in fairy land?

You can bet Joe D will be busy on the phones the next few weeks. Guys putting themselves before the team is not going to fly.

We're better without him. We'll be even better if we can get a big in return.

You don't sacrifice wins just to coddle egos. Staying big with AJ/Stuck starting is the only option. Curry said it himself yesterday on Stony/Wojo. He said it's Rodney's team to run from here on out, and that defense is first, which means 2 bigs. They asked Curry if that meant Rip or AI coming off the bench and he said yes.

I just hope they don't use Stuckey being banged up as an excuse to go back to AI at PG. That is a recipe for disaster in the long run.